Avoid anything before a tasting?

[ScotchPalate]

If you are about to do a more formal tasting of Scotch (or what have you), is there anything in particular that you avoid eating or drinking before (or several days before)?

[les taylor]

Garlic, spring onions or Kippers would be a bit of a no no I would have thought.

[Deactivated Member]

Curry, toothpaste, cloven hooved beasts, perfume and wet dogs.

[Deactivated Member]

Curry, toothpaste, cloven hooved beasts, perfume and wet dogs.

Hey Criefty, I see Mrs C. is feeding you well this week!


But in general I agree, don't eat anything with too strong and too long-lasting a taste like garlic, hot very spicy food and similar.

With respect to kippers, this may be OK as my Gourmet evening often pair smoky fish with the more peaty drams.
MT

[ScotchPalate]

Do you avoid coffee? For you across the pond, Tea?

[Deactivated Member]

Do you avoid coffee? For you across the pond, Tea?

Even though we have some excellent coffee over this side of t'pond, I don't personally drink it at all.
I don't normally drink tea before a tasting, but not for any other reason that I wouldn't imagine having a tea before a whisky event, nothing to do with the taste.
MT

[les taylor]

We are allowed coffee this side of the pond I drink it every day.

[Lawrence]

I avoid strong foods and especially avoid garlic and onions, they are complete palate killers. Also oily foods, like cream and cheese (blue cheeses are the worst) which coat the mouth with oils. If you've had these foods you might as well give up. If I'm a little hungry I might munch on a oatcake or two, completely bland.

Jim Murray likes black coffee before a tasting and sometimes I'll have a cup of tea (I never use sugar). I also brush my teeth with an apricot flavoured toothpaste from Tom's of Maine which is 'natural' but has the advantage of having zero after taste or affect on the palate. It's very. very mild and does the job, a quick swish with water afterwards and about 20 minutes later you're ready to go.

Lawrence

[ScotchPalate]

Les,
Glad to hear that you enjoy coffee. Likewise, there are Americans who enjoy tea (mostly ice tea), but most of us drink coffee by the truck-load. Infact, should an American be so unfortunately faced with a decision between giving up coffee or their favorite liquor, I'd wager that they'd keep their coffee .

[Paul A Jellis]

I have stopped drinking whisky this week so that I can appreciate Whisky Live on Saturday, I shall only have a few slices of plain toast before I leave home in the morning, so that I don't have any lingering tastes on my palate when I get there.

[Jack Skellington]

Bearing in mind that the nose is better equiped to deal with the most whiskies, I would say the foods mentioned above (apart from wet dog, which brings out the fruity characters of most whiskies I think) will have a slight detrimental effect but in the whole as long as you dont have a stinking cold eat what u want!

[Deactivated Member]

As Lawrence says, it is oily foods that are the killer. The oils linger on the palate and you can't shift them. I would add to the list of avoids: tomatoes, pizza, and burgers. I tend to eat chips before tasting (i.e. what they call fries in America) as they are bland and usually not terribly oily. Failing that, chicken sandwickes without mayonnaise work well.

[Scotchio]

Tobacco, it's only when you pack in the evil weed that you realise just how much you've been missing. Why anyone would want a cigar malt is beyond me

[Deactivated Member]

Tobacco, it's only when you pack in the evil weed that you realise just how much you've been missing.

It's only when I gave up smoking that I realized just how bad my cooking was - everything was massively over-seasoned and over-flavoured. Tobacco leaves your nosing ability intact, though.